1. Field of the Invention
A portable mineral separation apparatus of at least two modular stacking trays set at alternating inclines surfaces, provides the stacked trays in two types. A first and uppermost tray is provided with a flood box to introduce a controlled flow of water at a top incline with a sufficient flow to compel particles of aggregate to move down a smooth incline and form a slurry that separates the aggregate according to the relative specific gravity of the particles from lightest to heaviest. The aggregate slurry is contained within vertically projecting side walls to direct the slurry down the incline and contain the entire slurry. A second tray is a collection tray, progressing the slurry from the first tray, further processing the slurry which falls and passes through a gated axial trough, which is part of the apparatus known as a G force separator, forcing the materials under a gate, converting the slurry into a column within the water flow that attempts level equalization allowing lighter materials to advance ahead of the heavier materials, including gold. The slurry is force down a similar incline, but this incline contains a collection and concentrator mat, known as a vortex mat, introduced to collect and concentrate the heavy materials, including black sand and gold, defining the process and function of the second tray. Any material not captured within the vortex mat travel down the incline into another collection tray, wherein the process of the second tray is repeated. The process waste aggregate is washed from the bottom of the last tray, while the trapped heavier particles, including the gold, are captured within the vortex mat and intentionally released into a pan when the vortex mat is rinsed with water.
2. Description of Prior Art
A preliminary review of prior art patents was conducted by the applicant which reveal prior art patents in the field of gold separation using a hydraulic water flow within a sluice or other structural device. They primarily are found within Class 209, as devices for the classification, separation and assortment of solid materials, such as mineral rich aggregates. However, the prior art inventions do not disclose the same or similar elements as the present portable heavy material concentrator and gold particle separator, nor do they present the material components in a manner contemplated or anticipated in the prior art. Primarily, none of the prior art devices provide a plurality of angled trays which include a device which is the same as or the substantive equivalent of the G force concentrator which forms a gated axial trough assembly involving each axial trough at the first end and the vertical gate from second end of the immediate above tray provided to force the flow of water around the vertical gate in a smooth rounded flow, causing the water and aggregate slurry to elevate above the next lower tray, causing the lighter aggregate particles to rise higher in the accelerated water flow while the heavier particles of the aggregate slurry are lower in the accelerated water flow, causing a specific gravity separation of the particulate in the water flow and along the surface of the mat on the lower inclined tray, this occurring on at least two occasions in a three tray stack, three occasions on a four tray stack, and so forth.
The prior art patents located are generally involving general topical categories, all pertaining to gold particle separation from an aggregate. A first set uses a mat in the bottom of a slurry tray. These patents include U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0193406 to Alderson, which uses a ribbed rubber mat, U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,209 to Loewen, which utilizes a gold collection medium which is disclosed as a ribbed mat having ribs and grooves, being made of vinyl or plastic, to induce a positive charge to the mat caused by the flow of water and particulate materials, U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,508 to Plath, which uses a mat of susceptible particulate material, disclosed as a polymeric sheet in which a magnetized material is incorporated, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,690 to Powers, using a removable flexible riffle mat. Cocoa mats are placed in the bottom of machines and sluice boxes in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,174,925 to McKeever and 4,199,441 to Ross. Reverse angled sluices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,799,681 to Warren and 7,438,188 to Slolworthy.
Apertures along a flat surface of a sluice are used in several gold sluice devices, including Ross, supra., U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,943 to Thrasher, which provides a series of apertures with a top plate aperture segment, several series of riffles, an adjustable weir and a Venturi apparatus, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,985 to Hibbard, which also employs a screen through which the aggregate slurry flow to a lower tray having a plurality of sluices.
Various textured surfaces on the floor of a sluice device are disclosed in a series of prior art patents, which include U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,527 to Wright, which utilizes a novel type riffle construction including a series of vertical and sloping walls leading to an immediate collection area behind the vertical wall, U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,182 to Ashcraft, involving a bottom panel of a sluice having a plurality of elevated grooves, U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,551 to Wright, which has a plurality of corrugation grooves along a semi-cylindrical trough, with the corrugations being placed angularly along the trough to impart a longitudinal turbulent flow of water and aggregate along the trough and U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,270 to McCann, using a separator with a plurality of grooves, pockets and crevices meant to trap free minerals and gemstones, with the lighter material leaving the sluice.